Some of you may have heard that Dr. Kioni Dudley had to resign within days of accepting the Subcommittee Chair post for Food Safety and Sustainability on November 17, 2010. He chose to pursue a race for city council, and we wish him the best.

In the meantime, Gary and I have been looking for a replacement, and we are thrilled to announce that Juanita Kawamoto has agreed to accept the position within days of our General Caucus meeting. We will be happy to introduce her to you at that time.

Juanita attended our November 3 meeting, is a member of the Hawaii Famer’s Union, works as a local farmer herself, and is extremely well informed regarding local food issuses. We know that you will find her as dedicated, passionate, and well informed as we did during our informal meeting tonight. In the meantime, here is her contact information.

Subcommittee Chair Juanita Kawamoto
farmfreshhawaii@yahoo.com

We hope that you will join us in welcoming her aboard at our next General Caucus meeting on December 1.

Lynn Marie Sager

Aloha Members of the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai’i

Your steering committee has a few important announcements and reminders for you.

First, reminder that we have two General Caucus meetings coming up, which we hope you plan to attend.

• Meeting one is on December 1, 2010, click here to view our Caucus Calendar with specific time and location
  • Our purpose at this meeting is to report to the General Caucus regarding Steering and Subcommittee activities over the past months, as well as to encourage our General Caucus to become actively involved in our plans for the upcoming legislative year.
• Meeting two is on December 11, 2010, click here to view our Caucus Calendar with specific time and location
  • Our purpose for this four-hour Saturday session is to promote an in-depth General Caucus discussion regarding our upcoming legislative agenda. We are looking for specific bills that we as a Caucus can advocate during the upcoming legislative session. The meeting agenda includes guest speakers, subcommittee breakout sessions, active discussions, and a vote on our Caucus’s top legislative priorities for the upcoming session.
• Members on the Neighbor Islands are encouraged to attend both meetings via teleconference.
  • Contact either Gary or Lynn on the steering committee as soon as possible to make arrangements.

Second, reminder that we have made arrangements with the Sierra Club to have our Caucus Members included in their December 4, 2010, Capitol Watch’s “Forces for Good” Symposium

• This event will include:

• • Our Caucus’s much needed advocacy training
  • Guest Speakers, including our own Caucus Chair Gary Hooser
  • Meetings with several of our new Representatives and Senators
  • A tour of the inner workings of the Capitol
  • A light lunch and a t-shirt
• The cost is only $5, making it the best bargain in town
• Click here for more information and to RSVP

Third, we are updating our e-mail list and switching servers. In the past, we have had to update our e-mail lists manually. Christian Adams has spent hours imputing the vital information. By switching servers, we are able to automate the system and free up valuable member time. We have chosen a service that protects your information and actively prohibits spamming. However, we do ask that you to do one thing right away to ensure a seamless transition:

• Simply click on this link to resubmit your name and e-mail address to our new list. In other words, we would like everyone to re-request being on our mailing list. Your few minutes of time with save us hours of labor.
• After you have signed up, the service will send you an e-mail asking you to verify your request. Click on the link in that e-mail to verify your request, and we will be able to send you all future official Caucus news alerts and e-mails.
• We also encourage you to bookmark this link, so you can pass it on to colleagues and friends interested in joining our Caucus.

Fourth, we have a new website. You can visit it by clicking here. For those of you who truly want to be active in the Caucus, we suggest that you visit the website and subscribe to its blog. (You will find a “subscribe to this website” option located on the top right hand corner of every page, and you need only provide an e-mail address)  Subscribers will receive convenient e-mail notifications every time we post environmental news or action alerts. Unlike official Caucus e-mails, our blog allows members to interact, suggest posts, and make comments.

• The website also contains all Caucus and subcommittee contact information; our official Caucus meetings and events calendar; a link to our new e-mail service allowing people to join automatically; copies of our mission, bylaws, and meeting minutes; and links to recommended sites, including our new Facebook group page and our Facebook open forum page.
• We would love you to drop by, bookmark, and explore.
• We suggest that you share its link with interested friends.
• We especially encourage you to subscribe.

Finally, if you are still interested in joining a subcommittee, please contact the subcommittee chairs directly. Their contact information is posted on our website. Click here for a direct link.

Mahalo for your time, and we hope to see you at our next meeting.

Lynn Marie Sager
Vice Chair
Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii

Please attend if you can. The event will include our Caucus’s much needed advocacy training, a tour of the inner workings of the capital, and several guest speakers, including our own Caucus Chair, Gary Hooser.

All that, plus lunch and a t-shirt for the cost of five dollars.

Best bargain in town…

Click here for a link to RSVP



Aloha Members of the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai’i,

The legislative year is almost upon us, and it is time for our Caucus to get active. That being said, we have a number of announcements and invitations to pass on:

On December 4, at 8:30 AM, the General Caucus is invited to attend a Sierra Club sponsored advocacy training session at the State Capital. The session lasts four-hours and should be extremely informative. Specific information will be posted on out new website as soon as we have full details.

Speaking of websites, we are pleased to announce our new website URL, and invite you to visit and bookmark its homepage. You will find it at enviromentalcaucusofthedemocraticpartyofhawaii.wordpress.com.

Oh wait, you are already here. Good for you.

Be sure to check out our calendar while here, for information on our upcoming Steering Committee Meetings and more.

We also would like to announce two General Caucus meetings: The first on December 1, 2010, see our website calendar for time and location.

At this meeting we will be reporting to the General Caucus regarding our activities over the past two months, as well as finalizing plans for the extended General Caucus meeting scheduled to follow on December 11.

We are also still looking for someone to take over the Subcommittee chair position for Food Security and Sustainability.

If you, or someone you know, is interest, please let us know and plan to attend.

The second General caucus meeting is set for  December 11, 2010, again see our website calendar for time and location.

This four-hour meeting will feature a panel discussion, reports from our three subcommittees, breakout sessions for member impute, as well as recommendations and votes on legislative initiatives.

We are specifically looking for legislative solutions and not just a long list of Hawai’i’s problems, so we encourage you to come with potential solutions in mind.

The December 11, 9am-1pm — proposed meeting agenda follows:

a. Greetings and introductions

b. Panel discussion with members of each task force.

c. Break into subcommittees and discussion that subcommittees top priorities.

d. Subcommittee recommendations with a decision on the top three legislative priorities in each task force.

Finally, for those who really want to get actively involved, we have uploaded a “working document” based on Gov. Abercrombie’s environmental white pages. We invite you to check it out and help us with any recommendations. You can find the document at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19cyjQsVHsB8txEvGvdG5UypLWSkeWOc4BUF3rkpZ9fY/edit?authkey=CKSp3NkP&hl=en#

Anyone can look at it. If you would like to add comments, please send an e-mail to bsager42@gmail.com, and he will arrange for internet editing access.

We also have a new Facebook page where you can bring up issues and make comments on environmental issues that matter. You will find our new Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_127204294003959#!/home.php?sk=group_127204294003959

Mahalo for your time, and we hope see you at our next few Caucus meetings,

Lynn Marie Sager
Vice Chair
Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai’i

Greetings Members,

The Steering Committee has been in touch via phone and e-mail. Together we have decided that a schedule change is needed. You will find the details on our Calendar.

We hope that all our members will take advantage of the Sierra Club sponsored event on Dec 4 at the State Capitol, which includes advocacy training.  We will post more information as it becomes available.

We also hope that you can all join us at a December 11 extended General Caucus meeting, in which we hope to discuss and determine our upcoming legislative agenda. Your voice and vote is welcome.

LMS

Don’t forget to attend this Wednesday’s Steering Committee meeting at Democratic Headquarters. We will be doing some general house keeping and reving up for the upcoming General Caucus meeting scheduled for November 10.

Now’s the time to get your voice heard.

Meeting agenda will be sent out by e-mail prior to the meeting.

The newly created Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai’i is pleased to welcome you to its new website. We  are dedicated to identifying, advocating for, and publicizing issues that are critical to the preservation and restoration of the environment at world, national, state, and local levels.

We hope that you will join us in securing a environmentally sustainable future for Hawai’i and its Ohana.